Senior
citizens who erected foundations on which today's Lakewood rests will be
saluted at the cornerstone laying of the Lakewood Civic Center and Municipal
Administration building at 2 p.m. this Sunday, Dec. 7th. The youth
of Lakewood, on whose sound judgment the future of the city depends, will
also be represented at the event which will take place on stands erected
in front of the rapidly rising $2,750,000 edifice on Detroit opposite Alameda.

Music
by the 110 - piece Lakewood High School band directed by Richard Strang
will open Sunday afternoon's brief one-hour ceremony after which Rev. Wilson
Kilgore, pastor of Lakewood Presbyterian church is to offer the Invocation.
Immediately following a welcoming address by Mayor Frank P. Celeste, ten
senior citizens named by Lakewood Golden Age and other organizations as
being among oldest residents of the community will be introduced and honored
by Mayor Celeste with fitting tribute.

Announcement
will follow of winners in the competition aimed at producing an official
Lakewood seal which is to be used as an emblem in the decorative scheme
of the new structure. The contest, open to all public and parochial
school children, closed Monday and Lakewood Kiwanis and Lakewood Rotary
clubs have each donated $30 for prizes. The winner in each deivision
will receive $20. All three winners will be honored at the ceremony.
Contest judges will be Mrs. Margaret Wenzler, president of Lakewood Art
League; Anthony Ross, president of Lakewood Historical society and Edward
Henning, assistant curator of Education at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Delivering
Sunday's main dedicatory address will be Louis B. Seltzer, editor of The
Press and veteran Lakewoodite. The actual Cornerstone Laying ceremony
is to follow Editor Seltzer's speech after which there will be additional
music by the LHS band. Pronouncement of the Benediction will be made
by Father Leo A. Warth of St. Clement's Catholic church. The ceremonies
are to conclude with singing by the assembled throng of 'America the Beautiful.'

With Lakewood's new Civic
Center and Municipal Administration building at Detroit and Alameda about
85 per cent completed, construction crews are racing the calendar to conclude
work by Oct. 1st on the structure - the first new municipal building in
Lakewood history and one that is already regarded as the ultimate symbol
of Operation Lakewood-in-action.

Mayor Frank P. Celeste
told The Post yesterday he expects formal dedication of the modern $1,700,000
edifice will take place about the first week of October. Meanwhile,
with 'moving day' looming ever closer for some 150 municipal employees,
including police department, Mayor Celeste and his department heads have
commenced conferring on ways of making transfer of departments to the new
building with a minimum of waste motion.

"The administration is
planning to have all departments - police, court, council and administration
- moved into new quarters by Oct. 1 to enable us to efficiently, properly
and economically operate the different functions of government all under
one roof as at early a date as feasible." Transfer of departmental files,
documents and records by a local mover should not consume more than two
days, the Mayor estimated. This task will be accomplished sometime
during the last week of September, he said.

CALLS FOR CELEBRATION

Underscoring the fact
that the new Civic Center-Municipal Administration building is the first
new municipal structure in all Lakewood history, Mayor Celeste yesterday
suggested that the official dedication might very well be augmented by
a city-wide celebration in which all groups and organizations would join.

"The community should
rally round all efforts planned to properly dedicate this new symbol of
faith and confidence in Lakewood," Mayor Celeste said, adding: "Our town's
many and varied organizations have an excellent opportunity this fall to
really demonstrate the true spirit of Lakewood by beginning now to plan
a fitting celebration commemorating the event."

The handsome brick and
stone Civic Center and Municipal Administration building consisting of
two floors and basement covers an area of 75,000 square feet. The
Civic Center portion on the second floor contains an auditorium and stage
and will hold 600 persons. It will seat 400 persons convienently
for dinners and banquets. A fully equipped kitchen is still another
feature. A basement meeting room will seat an additional 125.
These facilities will be available to all Lakewood organizations.

Construction costs of
the edifice, Mayor Celeste estimates, will run about $1,700,000 and includes
architect's and engineer's fees. Another $50,000 to $100,000 is being
spent for new steel fireproof furniture to be installed throughout the
building, a new police radio transmission station and pistol range.

The present city hall
in Lakewood Park and several city halls which preceded it were all converted
residences or altered commercial buildings. Similarly the present
Police Building and Council Chamber as well as the Courts Building, all
of which are on Warren road, are remodeled structures. The new building,
rapidly nearing completion will be the first dedicated entirely to municipal
governmental purposes.

The present police station,
a converted former telephone exchange, and the building shared by Court
and Council, a converted apartment before, will later be torn down to make
room for modern office buildings which will rise on the perimeter of the
Detroit-Warren shopping center.

Funds for construction
of the Civic Center-Muny Building were provided in November, 1957 when
the Lakewood electorate passed the $1,750,000 city hall bond issue by a
thumping majority vote. "This vote was a dramatic demonstration of the
success of Operation Lakewood and the desire of citizens to brighten our
city's future," Mayor Celeste said, adding: "Soon all Lakewood citizens
will be able to visit the completed structure and view the great achievement
which their support has rendered."

The Mayor recalled it
was in 1918 that the Robert Rhodes mansion was purchased at a cost of $214,500
for use as Lakewood's City Hall. Today, 41 years later, the dilapidated,
80-year old frame summer house is nearing the end of its existence as a
center of governmental administration.

Architects for the new
Muny Building are Garfield, Harris, Shaffer, Flynn and Williams and contractor
is the Brown Construction Co.

The men and women who
built foundations of today's Lakewood will be honored at cornerstone laying
of the Lakewood Civic Center and Municipal Administration building at 2
p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 7th. At the same time there will be symbolic
pledging on the part of the city's youth to keep in tact the community
character which has earned Lakewood's eminence as a "city of homes".
Plans for the long awaited event, which will take place on stands erected
in front of the rapidly rising $2,750,000 edifice on Detroit Avenue opposite
Alameda, were nearing completion this week with Mayor Frank P. Celeste
reportedly centering all possible effort on securing the new Lakewood Symphonic
band to headline the program.

Mayor Celeste this week
addressed communications to various Lakewood organizations composed entirely
or largely of senior citizens asking each group to name the man and a woman
who have been residents of the community for the longest period of time
to serve as representatives at the cornerstone ceremony where they will
be accorded special recognition. The Mayor was particularly anxious
that The Post emphasize probability of some groups not receiving formal
invitations and urged officers of such organizations to get in touch with
City Hall as soon as convenient so that oversights may be remedied.

A notable youth activity
inspired by the approaching ceremony is a competition aimed at producing
an official Lakewood seal which will be used as an emblem in the decorative
scheme of the new structure and will be made generally available.
Lack of an official city emblem to incorporate in the Civic Center design
and consequent search revealed the fact that there never has been such
a seal in existence.

The only stipulation
as regards seal ideas is that designs be within a circle of any size.
The contest is open to all public and parochical school children of Lakewood.

There will be separate
contests for children through the sixth grade, for children from the seventh
through the ninth grade, and for high school students. There will
be a winner in each division; from these three one official seal of the
city of Lakewood will be chosen and inscribed in some appropriate place
within the Civic Administration Building.

Lakewood Kiwanis and
Lakewood Rotary clubs have each donated $30 for prizes. The winner
in each division will receive $20. All three winners will be honored
at the Cornerstone Ceremony.

Judges for the contest
are Mrs. Margaret Wenzler, president of the Lakewood Art League; Anthony
Ross, president of the Lakewood Historical Society; and Edward Henning;
assistant curator of Education at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Entries
can be submitted to Phillip Ranney in the Mayor's office from now until
5 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 1.